Two Cumbrians pick up BSUK Youth Panel Young Volunteer Awards

14th December 2011

The BaseballSoftballUK Youth Panel launched its first Young Volunteer Awards this year to recognise the work of all those young volunteers who help to run and develop baseball and softball teams, clubs and leagues around the country. Now the winners for 2011 have been announced.

The four categories in which people could be nominated in 2011 were:

Baseball Young Volunteer of the Year
Volunteer Young Baseball Coach of the Year
Softball Young Volunteer of the Year
Volunteer Young Softball Coach of the Year
The winners and a summary of their contributions are below.

Baseball Young Volunteer of the Year Chantelle Altham of Cartmel Valley Baseball Club in Cumbria. Chantelle's nomination was based on her commitment to the club's Pony team and her work with the Cartmel Rookies as an Assistant Coach. She is seen as a person full of enthusiasm, kindness and patience, the very qualities that make her such an excellent coach with the very youngest Rookies at Cartmel. Chantelle is an invaluable member of the coaching team, inspiring the next generation of young baseball players.

Volunteer Young Baseball Coach of the Year went James Pearson of Cartmel Valley Baseball Club. James has devoted the last four years to his own coaching development and became the youngest qualified Level 3 Coach in the UK in 2009. He was an Assistant Coach for the GB Cadet teams in 2010 and 2011, specialising in catching, and was invited to Canada to experience college coaching as part of the MLB Envoy Scheme.

James has sacrificed a lot of his own playing time to coach club, Academy and National Team players. When not coaching, he has often been active behind the scenes, fundraising or just helping out -- preparing the field at home, visiting schools or helping at MLB Roadshows and the 2011 National Baseball Championships.